The last several decades have witnessed not just an explosion in the number or type of electronic devices available to the consuming public, but also a corresponding reduction in the sizes of such devices. Today, the consuming public can acquire and use a wide variety of electronic devices, such as cellular phones, mobile phones, WiFi phones, netbooks, laptop computers, handheld computers, tablet computers (such as the Apple iPad™), personal organizers, e-reading devices (such as the Amazon Kindle® and the Barnes & Noble Nook® devices), media players and gaming devices. Many of these devices are capable of either or both of wired or wireless telecommunications. For example, cellular or mobile phones are capable of telephonic and data communication over a cellular telecommunications network. Some dual-mode cellular or mobile phones are additionally capable of wireless communications over WiFi. Similarly, e-reading devices can engage in data communications over cellular telecommunications networks. Such devices are available in a variety of compact form factors, allowing such devices to be held by a single hand and placed in a pocket.
In addition, many devices that heretofore have lacked the capability for wireless or wired telecommunications now have such capability. Thus, wristwatches and similar items now frequently possess communications capabilities. Also, larger electronic devices, such as televisions, have communications capabilities.
In all of these cases, however, the portable form factors of such devices make them vulnerable to being lost or stolen. Once found by third parties or law enforcement, it is frequently difficult to determine whom the owner of the device is or how to return the device to the rightful owner or user. For example, cellular or mobile phones frequently incorporate user pass codes or unlock codes that protect important user identifiable information and limit access to device functionality, and thereby do not permit a person who finds such a device to access the rightful owner's personal information or otherwise contact a customer care service. Other types of devices, such as e-readers, computers, netbooks, watches, media players, etc., frequently provide no information whatsoever as to the owner of the device, and frequently have no associated telecommunications or IP-based service provider associated, thereby making it even more difficult to identify the true owner of the device.
In addition, it is frequently difficult for the rightful owner of the device to learn that the device has been found and is available for recovery. In the case of cellular or mobile phones, the owner may only learn that the device has been found, and capable of recovery, if, for example, a finder returns the phone to the rightful owner's telecommunications carrier. In the case of laptop computers and other devices large enough to carry physical identification information, such as a business card on the underside of a laptop computer, the rightful owner may receive a communication from a finding party notifying him or her of the recovery of the device.